#anglo saxon kings

[dreamconsumer]

Harold II (1020-1066) last Anglo-Saxon King crowned in 1064, sworn on the sacred relics before William I the Conqueror to support his cause in the throne of England at the death of Edward the Confessor. French School.

[linen-finch]

anyone remember these two haha. ha.

5th-6th century merthur save me save me. save me semi historical accuracy

[wonder-worker]

A central element of the myth of [Eleanor of Aquitaine] is that of her exceptionalism. Historians and Eleanor biographers have tended to take literally Richard of Devizes’s conventional panegyric of her as ‘an incomparable woman’. She is assumed to be a woman out of her time. […] Amazement at Eleanor’s power and independence is born from a presentism that assumes generally that the Middle Ages were a backward age, and specifically that medieval women were all downtrodden and marginalized. Eleanor’s career can, from such a perspective, only be explained by assuming that she was an exception who rose by sheer force of personality above the restrictions placed upon twelfth-century women.

— Michael R. Evans, Inventing Eleanor: The Medieval and Post-Medieval Image of Eleanor of Aquitaine

The idea of Eleanor’s exceptionalism rests on an assumption that women of her age were powerless. On the contrary, in Western Europe before the twelfth century there were ‘no really effective barriers to the capacity of women to exercise power; they appear as military leaders, judges, castellans, controllers of property’. […] In an important article published in 1992, Jane Martindale sought to locate Eleanor in context, stripping away much of the conjecture that had grown up around her, and returning to primary sources, including her charters. Martindale also demonstrated how Eleanor was not out of the ordinary for a twelfth-century queen either in the extent of her power or in the criticisms levelled against her.

If we look at Eleanor’s predecessors as Anglo-Norman queens of England, we find many examples of women wielding political power. Matilda of Flanders (wife of William the Conqueror) acted as regent in Normandy during his frequent absences in England following the Conquest, and [the first wife of Henry I, Matilda of Scotland, played some role in governing England during her husband's absences], while during the civil war of Stephen’s reign Matilda of Boulogne led the fight for a time on behalf of her royal husband, who had been captured by the forces of the empress. And if we wish to seek a rebel woman, we need look no further than Juliana, illegitimate daughter of Henry I, who attempted to assassinate him with a crossbow, or Adèle of Champagne, the third wife of Louis VII, who ‘[a]t the moment when Henry II held Eleanor of Aquitaine in jail for her revolt … led a revolt with her brothers against her son, Philip II'.

Eleanor is, therefore, less the exception than the rule – albeit an extreme example of that rule. This can be illustrated by comparing her with a twelfth century woman who has attracted less literary and historical attention. Adela of Blois died in 1137, the year of Eleanor’s marriage to Louis VII. […] The chronicle and charter evidence reveals Adela to have ‘legitimately exercised the powers of comital lordship’ in the domains of Blois-Champagne, both in consort with her husband and alone during his absence on crusade and after his death. […] There was, however, nothing atypical about the nature of Adela’s power. In the words of her biographer Kimberley LoPrete, ‘while the extent of Adela’s powers and the political impact of her actions were exceptional for a woman of her day (and indeed for most men), the sources of her powers and the activities she engaged in were not fundamentally different from those of other women of lordly rank’. These words could equally apply to Eleanor; the extent of her power, as heiress to the richest lordship in France, wife of two kings and mother of two or three more, was remarkable, but the nature of her power was not exceptional. Other noble or royal women governed, arranged marriages and alliances, and were patrons of the church. Eleanor represents one end of a continuum, not an isolated outlier.

[hikaruchen]

I shine only with the light you gave me. — The Moon Will Sing by The Crane Wives

INPRNT

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This is a recreation of The Meeting on the Turret Stairs (1864) by Frederic William Burton. Credit to the wonderful @soulhollow for giving me the brilliant idea and commissioning this 💚

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The costume design for Alfred

They said they wanted to see Alfred in purple/gold tones, so I self-indulgently designed a costume for Alfred (though again not necessarily trying to be historical accurate)

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Details for archaeology nerds (So it happens again I guess)

1. The tablet-woven bend

Design is loosely taken from an actual archaeological find from the Taplow Barrow in Buckinghamsire, dating to the early 7th century. The original piece really had the gold threads on it by the way. You can see the modern reconstruction here.

2. Pattern on the tunic

Taken from a part of an arcade illustration in the Royal Bible (Royal 1. E. vi, 4r.) c. 1000-1025 in British Library, London. Added some vine patterns that are quite common to see in insular art for reasons.

3. Pattern on the shawl

Taken from a part of the stole and the maniple in St. Cuthbert’s coffin, dated to early 10th century, now in Durham Cathedral Museum.

4. Embroidery on Alfred’s sleeves

The pattern is from an illustration in the manuscript of Bede’s Life of St Cuthbert (MS 183, f. 1v) c. 937 in Parker Library, Cambridge, which depicts King Æthelstan showing the book to St Cuthbert himself.

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The process

Such a pleasure to work on this one! Thank you again for giving me the chance✨

[illustratus]

St Edmund slain by the Danes, AD 870 by Harry Payne

[hiljametsa]

Hwær cwom mearg? Hwær cwom mago? Hwær cwom maþþumgyfa? Hwær cwom symbla gesetu? Hwær sindon seledreamas? Eala beorht bune! Eala byrnwiga! Eala þeodnes þrym! Hu seo þrag gewat, genap under nihthelm, swa heo no wære.

'Where is the horse? Where the rider? Where has the giftgiver gone? Where are the seats of the feast? Where are the wonders of the hall? Alas, the bright cup! Alas, the mailed warrior! Alas, the glory of the lord! How that time has passed away, dark under nightcover, as if it never were.'

-- The Wanderer (Eardstapa), lines 92a-96b, from the Exeter Book. This poem served as the inspiration for Tolkien's Lament of the Rohirrim, as published in The Two Towers, "The King of the Golden Hall":

"Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing? Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing? Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing? Where is the spring and the harvest and the tall corn growing? They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow. Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning, Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?"

You may also notice the Old English word maþþum used here to mean 'gift', whence Tolkien's use of 'mathom' for the gifts Hobbits give each other on their birthdays.

[ariadnethedragon]

Finan ♡

[knyyghts]

Éowyn & the Witch King

In the vain of Frank Frazetta.

[fumblingmusings]

Honestly I hope to God Arthur went absolutely apeshit on some puritan parliamentarians the 1640s, because if I were him and these miserable sods kept desecrating the graves of my oldest and most precious kings and queens I think I could commit war crimes too.

[driftingoffthegrid]

everyone wants to talk about sex; no one wants to discuss the development of arthurian legend :/

[mysticmjolnir]

my entire body is low key vibrating in anticipation of king and conqueror. please be good, be be delightful. nikolaj please be the worst bastard on the planet, the black seed of my country's black heart. give me my godwinsons, my cunning edith, my fierce harold, my [redacted] tostig, my loyal leofwine and gyrth, my probably not appearing in this film wulfnoth. i don't even care if it's pure propagandistic trash, i don't care how clumsy or jingoistic or wrong it is, i just want to see stamford and hastings back to back, the victory in the north followed by the brutal march followed by bitter defeat.

[theworldsoftolkein]

Rohan: The Places of Middle Earth | Jess of the Shire

Rohan is One of my Favorite Places in Middle-Earth, Mostly Due to How Detailed & Realistic it is. Today, We Discuss Tolkien's Love of English History, With Movie Behind the Scenes & Anglo-Saxon Architecture Thrown in for Good Measure!

[caedmonofwhitby]

A silver penny depicting King Offa c785

Anglo-Saxon

Silver

The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

“The king's face appears in profile, and he is depicted wearing a diadem, like a Roman emperor (though his curly hair might be an allusion to the biblical King David). This became the standard design for Anglo-Saxon and then English coins until the thirteenth century, but none of these later coins would match the quality of those issued in Offa's reign after 785.”

from The Anglo-Saxons by Marc Morris

[wonder-worker]

It is true that Æthelflæd exercised a degree of authority unmatched by any royal woman prior to Edgar’s controversial queen, Ælfthryth. Nevertheless, her career should not be viewed as wholly distinct from that of other well-born women of the period. The charters depict a woman who gained political prominence, not in spite of contemporary gender expectations, but through them. Her rise to domina Merciorum followed a traditionally gendered path from daughter to sister, wife, and widow. She, like other noble women, provided her father, brother, and husband with a means of fulfilling their ambitions for themselves and their family. Yet she should not be seen as a passive or unwilling participant in this project; rather, it was her place at the intersection of West Saxon familial expectations and Mercian royal traditions that positioned her to achieve the sort of political influence typically available only to men. At the same time, like the Alfredian entries in the Chronicle or Asser’s vita Alfredi, Æthelflæd’s charters must also be understood as the political propaganda of a savvy West Saxon dynasty accustomed to crafting both a public narrative and a documentary record to suit their needs. The Æthelflæd of the charters is no less fictional than the Alfred of Asser or, for that matter, the Alfred of the prologue to the OE Pastoral Care. The charters, like these texts, are an exercise in political image-making. If the “real” Æthelflæd still remains elusive, however, we may at least be able to catch a glimpse of her in the documents of the law.

— Andrew Rabin, "The Charters of Æthelflæd", Æthelflæd, Lady of the Mercians, and Women in Tenth-Century England (Edited by Rebecca Hardie)

[hikaruchen]

Reading this blog and procrastinating what I should’ve been doing at the moment, but it’s super helpful if you want to know more about the Anglo-Saxon and Viking material culture but don’t want to be bored to hell. All articles are done by an archaeologist specializing in mortuary archaeology, and he has already written several ones about burials and pagan practices during that time through the lens of The Last Kingdom. I’ve linked one of his posts before on ao3 when discussing about the historical accuracy of Alfred’s tomb effigy in the show under the pic Prayer from the Pagan, but didn’t really had the time to check others out. I just did it and find his other articles are actually super interesting to read as well.

For instance, back when I post this pic in January I said the colour palette was inspired by the Alfred jewel, but I completely forgot that it actually appeared in the show (2x04) where Alfred handed it to Æthelwold and said “Take this. It is a symbol of my kingship. Bear it with authority.”, which might be partially true but is hilarious if you give it another thought.

Because, why, in God’s name, would Alfred hand an ARTEFACT version of the piece he commissioned himself to his nephew? As Prof. Williams already stated (in this post), the Alfred jewel has long been assumed to be the handle part of a pointer stick for following words when reading a book, and if you look at the artefact itself it is quite clear that there’s a part that’s been missing as well. The reason why scholars think it has something to do with Alfred is because:

1) It’s written. The text on the frame literally says that “ÆLFRED MEC HEHT GEWYRCAN”, which means “Alfred ordered me made”. The more detailed explanation below (with the help of beloved wikitionary since I don’t understand Old English at all)

ÆLFRED (subject) Alfred, obviously MEC (object) me; accusative of iċ (I), but in the West Saxon dialect it’s actually an uncommon version of iċ’s accusative and is more often seen in the Anglian dialect. The frequently-used version for West Saxons is mē HEHT (verb) ordered; third-singular past tense for hātan (to call; to order etc.), often followed with infinitive verbs, cognate with heißen in German GEWYRCAN (verb) to make; I honestly don’t know if “to make” and “to be made” is just the same word in OE help And since the word order in OE is random as hell thanks to the case system (much like German which I eventually gave up learning because I don’t have a brain big enough for that. IT MAKES NO SENSE TO A NATIVE MANDARIN SPEAKER THANK YOU), it is eventually translated into “Alfred ordered me to be made”.

2) It was discovered in Somerset and has been dated to the late 9th century, and we all know what Somerset meant to Alfred

3) Alfred did say he would send a copy of his translation of Gregory the Great’s Pastoral Care to every episcopal see in his kingdom in the preface to it, with the book accompanied “an æstel of 50 mancuses”. Mancus was a term to denote a gold coin or a unit for coins worth about a month’s wage for a skilled worker, such as a craftsman or a soldier. Whatever that æstel is it must be worth hell LOTS of money

But honestly while I do think this interpretation sounds very much plausible I’m thinking about other possibilities as well - how many Alfreds exactly existed during his time? We know that Æthel in OE means noble, so people bearing this prefix in their names were usually royal members or at least aristocrats, but what about Alfred? Was Alfred a popular name? Or was it unique enough that he could just go by this name without mentioning his title at all? Imagine if it were an Æthelred who made this, who the hell would know which one of these it was referring to, Æthelred the King, Æthelred the Ealdorman, Æthelred Ealhswith’s father, or even Æthelred the fucking Archbishop??? And yeah, I know Alfred was the king ™ here and there isn’t really much space left on the frame after all, but surely it wouldn’t cost a bone to add a cyning behind his name, right?

Sadly, as it was in the pre-Domesday-Book era, I can’t find the statistics of Anglo-Saxon names at that time (but keep in mind that there were at least 19 Alfreds worthy enough to be mentioned in Domesday Book even after the conquest. I don’t know if this says anything at all but I do want to mention it) What I’m trying to say is while it is highly highly highly likely (and I do believe and want to believe in this theory!), we cannot be one hundred percent certain that this jewel was really from the Alfred we’re talking about. And even if it was, it apparently wouldn’t be carried around by Alfred like THAT. Because that would be like, “Bear this with authority! Even though the symbol of my kingship is broken!”, said Alfred to a king wannabe. Lol.

The other thing I want to mention is this post about the show’s use of Fuller brooch, the one Alfred wore in S2 when he was in his war gear.

First of all, it is indeed dated to late 9th century and is assumed by scholars to be made by metalworkers of Alfred’s court. Everything is fine except I don’t think you would want to wear jewelry that luxurious to war…but then there’s this thing:

MEET GIANT FULLERS!

Well, can’t blame them since I am basically doing the same thing with my drawings (i.e. using patterns on jewelry and illustrations from manuscripts for embroidery design). But it’s worth noting that designs that are suitable for one art form doesn’t mean they can be applied to another well, and that’s why I claim my art is inspired by Anglo-Saxon art but NOT historical accurate for the Anglo-Saxon period. The reason I still do this and think it is understandable for TLK crew to do so is because we simply don’t have that many resources to reference from when it comes to this time period, and fabrics and wooden buildings are just extremely hard to preserve by nature. Instead of screwing up the design on your own, it just has more fun to add real historical elements into your work. Look at those easter eggs!

Ok, that’s it. I hope you enjoy my long rant and have a good read from Prof. Williams’s works!

[illustratus]

The Wilton Diptych (1395–1399) — Coat of arms of Richard II (Arms of England of 1340 impaled with the mythical arms of Edward the Confessor), with Richard II's white hart badge.